Social media has always been a great way to meet new people and express your own opinion, but students have taken this opportunity too far. Social networking sites are websites created to stay in touch with friends and family. They allow students to post statuses, check-in, and post photos. Students can create their own profile by identifying their interests and customizing other features. Social media addiction can take many different forms. By filling a lonely void in a student's heart and providing a sense of comfort, social media leads students to become overly dependent on it. Dopamine, the same chemical released in the brain during sex, drug use, and food consumption, is also released when receiving and responding to a social media notification. As Franceshi-Bicchierai shares with us, "It turns out that receiving and responding to a notification results in a dose of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter associated with the motivation and reward response in the human brain." (“How does Facebook addiction affect our minds?”). When using drugs, each pill recharges a person's addictive impulse, and the same thing happens with each notification, every time a student recharges his addictive impulse. Harvard researchers conducted a study to see what effect self-disclosure has on the brain. They found that sharing a personal experience or a person's own thoughts releases dopamine, which is what social media is all about (Hawley). When thousands of students wake up in the morning before school and tweet about how they don't want to go to school, post on Facebook what time they went to bed, or Instagram what waffle they eat breakfast, they all have one. ...... middle of paper ...... its source is very varied Laster, Jill. “Students rejected on social media withdraw.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Np, April 14, 2014. Web. April 14, 2014. I'm going to use this source because it is an actual study that showed distinct results that support students' reliance on social media and its addictive qualities.Mackay, Deborah. “Social media: in search of happiness”. NWT. Next Web, 2001. Web. April 21, 2014. . Shows Dopaminergic Effect Parks, Peggy J. “Current Issues: Online Social Networks.” Current issues: online social networks. 2011: researcher on np SIRS issues. Internet. April 18, 2014. This source gives A LOT of information